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Object.equals(Boolean, Boolean) vs Logical Operators (Java)

First of all, apologies to this very basic question. I'm fairly new to stackoverflow but I'm scratching my head over this and would like some enlightenment.

Okay, so today at work me and my colleague's code was peer reviewed and was told to replace this..

Boolean isOpen;
*some processing that involves altering the value of isOpen*
if (!isOpen){
...
}

with this..

if (Objects.equals(Boolean.FALSE, isOpen)){
...
}

I get it that both implementation is correct and produces the same result. I also know the consequences of using the Boolean object wrappper.

What I don't get it the difference between using the NOT operator and Objects.equals() in this context. I know that at runtime the isOpen will be unboxed. Both are still susceptible to a NullPointerException so what's the difference? It kinda beats the purpose of logical operators.

Solution

  • There's no static equals method in Object class.

    You probably meant Objects.equals(). The advantage of using Objects.equals(Boolean.FALSE, isOpen) instead of !isOpen is to avoid NullPointerException when isOpen is null.

    That said, I'd rather change isOpen from Boolean to boolean if possible, and keep the !isOpen condition.